Saturday, March 24, 2012

The Writing or the Detecting?

Mysteries, along with history and biography, are my preferred reading.  My grandmother had a bookcase full of Agatha Christie novels and I can still remember the pleasure of discovering the Queen of Crime.  She inspired a love of the English detective novel that has never waned.  I do read current authors, including Laurie R. King, Kate Atkinson, Tana French, Charles Todd, Deborah Crombie, Christopher Fowler and Phil Rickman.  But in my heart, I'm a vintage crime lover.

I've been discovering new authors from the past over the last few months.  Some of them have been marvelous writers and some have left me cold, but I have learned one thing about myself.  If I have to choose between good writing and a fairly-clued seamless plot with a shocking twist on the last page, I'll take the writing.  Sure, I'd like to read the perfect mystery every time I crack a book, but that doesn't happen.  Give me polished, well-written, efficient prose and I can overlook all other faults.  

2 comments:

  1. I agree with you. I will forgive clumsy plotting or transparent clueing if the writing keeps me interested and reading to the very last page. Sense of humor also is a big plus in crime fiction for me. So much of modern crime fiction is drearily serious not too mention obsessed with violent description and I shy away from those writers.

    But I have also abandoned many a vintage mystery that was badly written. I have a post coming up soon called "Digging Myself Out of the Depths" devoted to some of the worst of the genre I suffered through this past winter. None of them qualify as alternative classics, BTW.

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  2. I'll look forward to that post. Glad to hear you share some of the same feelings about the issue. I thought I might lose my Junior Vintage Mystery Reader badge by admitting the detection didn't always have to be brilliant.

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